If there is any confusion over my name, I can resolve this right away.

PulpKult was, and still is, my trading name. The name appears on my Published books.

So; PaulWADE-PulpKult is ME!!!

Gordon Sykes? He's the main character in my new book.

Volume One :New Worlds.

Foreword –

Gordon
Sykes is being pursued. Confused as well as annoyed, he realizes that
if he is to survive, he must create a new world to live in. High up
in the mountains, he builds a city made from just his thoughts;
buildings, roads, and even people to keep him company. But all is not
well in Gordon's imaginary utopia; his city has a darker element to
it. He finds criminality and cruelty which he certainly did not
invent himself.

Could
it be that his pursuers have finally managed to catch up with him?
It's time Gordon Sykes makes a stand and cleanses his world of these
unwanted intruders.

THE CHRONICLES OF GORDON
SYKES.

Volume One – New Worlds.By, PaulWADE

Chapter
One. Escape

Gordon
Sykes was feeling strange.

Indeed,
within himself he was feeling quite lost.

Why
was he here, in such a strange featureless place?

Regretfully,
he couldn't
quite understand what was wrong.

The
face which kept appearing
over him, was extremely disturbing, to say the very least. Quite ugly
too if the truth were known. It did go away for long periods of time
though. This pleased Gordon no end.

During
the absence of the face however, he could hear his name being called,
over and over again.

This
was equally as annoying as the ugly face had been.

Gordon
was losing his tolerance with both, by the minute.

Gordon
Sykes did not like being bullied, or shouted at. He had decided this
long ago; he was fairly sure that he thought he had decided this. In
any case. Even if he had only this minute come up with this dislike,
he was definitely not going to be bullied any longer, especially by
this unpleasant face, or the grating voices.

"Gordon?"
The voice again...

"Gordon.
Gordon Sykes?"

"Gordon?"...

"Gordon?"...
"Gordon
Sykes?"

And
so it went on, and on...

Gordon
Sykes vaguely remembered he had been somewhere else, exactly where,
would come to him presently, he was certain of that, but for now, he
would concentrate solely upon not being
hereany
longer. He really must go.

The
voice and especially the
face , were too much for
him, much too much.

Through
his squinted eyes Gordon saw... Nothing.

Everything
was white, a very bright white, for as far as his vision allowed;
perhaps for ever.

Gordon
Sykes could somehow remember being the master of his own world. True,
it was not completely clear to him, but somewhere in the depths of
his mind he could remember things going very much better for him.

Gordon
tried concentrating. It hurt a little to do too much concentrating,
so he just let himself drift a little in free thought, as he liked to
think of it.

Then,
suddenly it came flooding back.

Gordon
remembered that he had lived in his own mind; he had created a world
of his very own. And, he had enjoyed every single moment in that well
ordered world.

Gordon
Sykes would return there, to his very own world.

A
world of instant changes and as fast as lightening decisions.

Ah
yes. Finally, Gordon Sykes was back.

His
first change would be no ugly faces.

He
recalled the extremely annoying ugly face that kept staring at him.

Gordon
was unsure why he had been so interesting to this face.

It
didn't
matter, she was gone now.

The
voice or voices too, were gone. Gordon mentally rejoiced.

Soon
the face will be replaced by more beautiful ones; everywhere there
will be only beautiful faces. Gordon Sykes felt at last, or again,
free.

As
quickly as he possibly could, Gordon created in his own new world, a
beach, a long clean white beach. Of course he made the ocean a soft
blue-green, with five feet tall rollers crashing in; just off the
rim-line of his sandy beach. The creamy mixture of surf and sand
flushing together and then pushing forward with each new wave.
Nowthat's
more like it, he thought
joyfully.

Gordon
spread down a towel, a huge beach towel.

He
was delighted because he had made it a bright red towel. Gordon liked
red.

He
lay down upon the towel and stared up at the sky...Oops. Silly me;
he had forgotten all about the sunshine.
Stupid man, he rebuked
himself. No point having
the power to create my own world full of beauty, if I am going to forget
things. Instantly there
was the sun, high and bright, set against a clear blue sky. Gordon
even remembered to make the horizon shimmer, just a little bit.

There,
now I can think about all the plans for my exciting new world.

I
can decide what comes next. And then, I shall create...

Fifteen
seconds later Gordon Sykes was fast asleep.

In
his dreams, which were more like dreams within dreams, Gordon felt
himself being pulled, pushed and somehow pressed into thoughts and
imaginings he had no desire to follow. The places he saw and the
sounds he heard became somehow confused. He was absolutely unsure of
himself one moment, yet strong confident and all-powerful the next.

These
were his dreams; somewhere deep within his mind of minds, he felt it
was so. Gordon tried to push back, against these sensations of loss,
of despair. The joy of new and exciting possibilities replaced them,
but not completely.

He
could see in this dream some magnificent buildings. Realizing that
the changes he could create were equally fantastic. In his
mind, his buildings were beautiful too. Gordon did feel though, that
to change all the pillars in the entrance halls from being vertical
to laying horizontal, just so he could make a point, was at best
childish and achieved no possible advantage whatsoever.

Indeed,
he felt somehow silly to have done such a thing. Although those
thoughts did cross his mind, it did not stop him from behaving
recklessly, nor did he put things back the way he had found them.

23 October 2012

By the time the
three of them had finished their argument, they had all forgotten who
it was that had suggested they take a long weekend break in Cornwall.
In England. In the month of October?

“Its going to be
cold.”

“I bet it rains,
it always rains.”

“Nowhere will be
open, so we'll have nowhere to stay at night.”

And so on. And so
on. And so on...

Each of them had
made a negative contribution, they couldn’t remember who had
actually said what. It did In fairness, raise the question, “what
the hell were they doing there at all?”

Janice, Roger and
Sarah, had taken many hiking trips together before. It was their
'thing.' In the last few years although they always went in the
summer. So far in the sunshine,
they had done some parts of Italy, a bit of Switzerland and quite a
lot of France. Mostly because it those parts of Europe were
near-bye. A quick train ride and there they were. The other places
they hoped to walk over were regrettably a long flight away and
except for Roger, neither of the two girls could take that much time
off work.

Which ever one of
them suggested Cornwall, knew there was a four-day weekend at the end
of October, so he, or she had suggested a short ramble through the
open parts of Cornwall. “It'll be lovely.” All of them remember
that being said.

At this particular
moment they were, according to the map, three miles from the sea,
five miles from a small village and there should be a quite high
hill, near a small woods. That is, if the map was being read
correctly. Oddly enough, Janice was the map reader. Oddly? Because
Roger always harboured the belief that she couldn’t find her
back-side with two hands. Although he also whispered to himself, it
was large enough and should have its own place on the map.

Roger became
friends with Janice a long time ago, the two them had a brief
“encounter” as Janice describes it, but instead of falling
out afterwards, they actually became tight friends. Sarah is her best
friend.

So the three of them
became quite close.

Naturally Roger
felt he had a license to say such things to Janice, because they had
“done it.” A misconception carried by many men,
apparently. He was not quite so brave with Sarah though, who apart
from being a bit of a feminist, was also a very capable martial arts
combatant. Roger didn’t want to beaten up by a girl. Especially not
Sarah.

Avoiding the
inevitable argument about, “where the fuck are we--- really?”
They all crouched around the map and watched as Janice pointed to the
various, not too obvious, land marks. As they all stood up and looked
about, they couldn’t see one single thing that resembled the marks
on the map.

“Now come ooo'n,”
Janice was looking distinctly crestfallen. Her map reading was
actually very good, but she had to admit something was very wrong
here.

Roger took the map
from Janice and turned it over to the side where the county and the
region were clearly marked. It was the correct map. It was also
ordnance survey, which meant that with the skill Janice had, along
with a compass she could put them within just a few feet of where
they stood. Usually.

“Its the right
map,” said Roger, to no one in particular. “Is it possible we
have drifted off a tad?” he asked them. “After all, the land here
does look pretty samey, which ever direction you look.”

“No, I really
made a point of checking our route before we left the last stop,”
Janice was looking more worried than she ought, after all it was not
the end of the world.

Sarah picked up on
her distress and asked Janice, “what's up Jan, don't look so upset,
I'm sure we'll get back on track,” Sarah stepped over to Janice and
patted her on the small part of her shoulder not covered with the
huge rucksack she carried.

Janice gave her a
slight grin. Then took the map back from Roger and again laid it down
on the ground. She squatted down and put the compass down on the map
too. Once the compass settled to magnetic north she tried to
orientate the map as she thought she had read the landmarks.

“There, you see,”
she gestured for the other two to join her. “We left here,” she
pointed to the last stopping place they had been. “Then we walked
along this track, clearly marked, here,” Janice ran her finger
along the clearly marked pathway. “Now,” Janice prodded the map
petulantly, “ we are here. Except we seem not to be. According to
everything around us we aren’t even close, no high craggy hill, no
woods and well, actually nothing, it all looks totally different. Not
one thing that the map says should be there.” Janice stood up,
shrugging out of the shoulder straps of her rucksack.

Roger and Sarah,
stared at each other. They had been on many such walking trips before
and yes, they had been unsure of their actual location before, but
never on any of their trips had they become totally lost.

“Well,
we have still a few hours, before it gets dark,” Sarah tried to
sound cheerier, but failed rather. It sounded more like “its
going to be dark soon, so we had better do something quickly.”

“Look, out that
way,” Sarah pointed toward the distance, “is that people? I cant
quite make it out. Do you see guys?”

They each put their
hands to beside their eyes, making a binocular shape with their
hands. “Ah yes, I think I see them,” Janice who had the best eye
sight brightened.

“Wow, what a piece
of luck, if they have just come from the village we are making for,
we are looking good.” Janice was almost bouncing with joy.

“They are still
an awful long way off aren’t they?” Roger made his usual
half-arsed remark, not really being helpful at all. “It'll take an
hour before they reach us here, shall we make a start and move toward
them?” For once Roger did make some sense.

The three of them
shuffled back into their packs, then with a more optimistic step got
into line and began walking toward where they saw the shape of people
coming their way.....

* * * *

After thirty
minutes, it appeared they had not really gained that much distance
between themselves and the people they were walking toward.

The landscape
around them looked more or less the same too.

All three of them
knew that Cornwall was fairly barren and that it was craggy, with a
few scattered, discarded tin mines here and there.

This however was
something else entirely.

The ground around
them looked to be green and very healthy plants grew everywhere.
Hardly a tree in sight though, unless they were trees on the horizon
in the other direction.

Guarding their
thoughts, the hikers marched on toward what they still thought must
be people. The shapes had become more distinct as they kept walking
toward it. The evening was drawing close too, which made a misty,
fuzzy dimness all about the distance.

“Is it possible
those people aren’t actually moving, but just standing or milling
about where they are?” Janice who was leading, called over her
shoulder.

“Could be Jan.”
Replied Sarah, who was still squinting her eyes, trying to make a
clearer vision of what she saw.

“Anyhow,”
Janice went on. “we should be with them soon. I hope it doesn’t
get dark too early around these parts, or it will be dark just as we
arrive. Then we have to make a decision to stay with them, or move on
in full dark. Not my favourite choice, walking in darkness, here, to
be avoided I would say.” Poor Janice was trying very hard to sound
as flippant as she could.

No one spoke after
that. They tramped on with a feeling of determination to reach these
people and to do it as soon as they could.

The afternoon had
passed, they had not seemed to notice it go. Even so, they can not
have been walking that long, it felt only an hour or so. How strange.

Roger was about to
say something, probably negative, which was his way, when out of
nowhere came a sound like someone calling. It was a fairly high
pitched sound more like a hooting than a call.

Nevertheless they
stopped where they were and each cocked an ear, trying to hear
better.

Nothing.

They stood stock
still, hardly breathing.

“Did you hear
it?” Roger ventured his comment, which was met with..

“Shhuusssshh”
from both the girls at the same time..

“Listen.” Sarah
whispered.

Nothing.

Actually, there was
not any sound; at all.

Then they heard it
“Hellooooooo” it was nearer this time.

Janice, was the one
to answer, “Hello?” She called, her voice a bit gravelly.

“HELLO?”
bellowed Roger, “IS ANYONE THERE?”

Roger then said to
the girls, “well you have to make them hear you.” He smiled his
stupid smile, as if everything he did was misunderstood, but was
really, so obvious.

They stood and
waited. Looking all about themselves, they noticed now that it had
become almost full dark.

“Shit and
biscuits,” Janice was rummaging in her side pocket. She was still
wearing her pack, so reaching back was not achieving her aim.

“Sarah, sweetie,
will you dig my flash-light out of my pouch for me, that one there?”

Now with the flash
light Janice could point it in the direction they thought the sound
had come from.

Sweeping back and
forth across a small ark, suddenly Janice stopped on one spot.
“Hello, are you there?” She called in the direction she was
pointing the light.

“You wont find us
like that.” A voice from behind them, made them all jump.

“I mean I'm not
over there, none of us are over there, as a matter of fact.”

Janice span around
trying to shine her light upon where she heard the voice.

As all three of
them turned, they almost jumped out of their skin.

Standing right
there, with them were two people.

“Even-in' to
yea.” The one who had spoken before, was grinning all over his face
and made a slight bow. “Tis a lovely even-in' for it, is it not?”

“Erm, good
evening to you,” each of the three mumbled, as they tried to take
in the sight of the two people.

“A lovely evening
for what, exactly?” Roger asked, as friendly as he could muster at
present. “We are a bit off the beaten track, it seems. We would be
grateful if you could direct us to the nearest village.”

“Twod be our
pleasure,” said the odd looking man, for it must be a man, judging
by how he was dressed. “I'll do better than that, I'll take you
there ma' self.”

Both Sarah and
Janice smiled, trying to think passed the how oddly this man was
dressed. “Jostling and stopping, then starting again the two girls,
trying to express how that would be kind, very kind, but could he
tell them where they actually were? Maybe point it out on the map.”
Somehow, between them this all got said and the man looked at each of
them and gave out a cry of laughter.

“Why yes, to this
and yes to that,” he chanted, “I shall show you where and I'll
show you when, then if yer like I'll bring yer back ag'in”...

Taken aback by this
out cry, both the girls stepped closer to one another. Janice reached
out for Sarah's hand. Roger trying to be more macho than his nature
allowed, also came a bit closer to the girls although he stopped at
holding their hand.

“So you know
where we are and will help us?” asked Roger. He looked at the
silent one then, it seemed to be a woman, but Roger couldn’t really
tell as the person wore a deep hood which concealed the face
entirely.

“Well, I'm Roger,
and this is Janice”—------ “and this is Sarah” the strange
man finished his sentence for him.

All of them reacted
as if the moment had been frozen in time.

“ Now that's
ENOUGH !!”

All of them spun
round to look at the other figure. Still hooded, it was a female
voice and a very annoyed one by the sound of it.

Having won their
attention, the voice from the hood continued, more gently this time.
“It is not our way to make you feel uncomfortable, my young
friends.” She raised her hands to to the rim of her hood and slowly
lowered it down to rest upon her shoulders.

Roger took a an
involuntary breath, the two girls were equally surprised.

The woman was
beautiful.

None of them had
seen a woman THIS beautiful, not like her, ever.

The woman smiled, a
warm and very alluring smile.

“My name is
Caolan, and this rampunctious man is Fen, which is short for
something, but it can not be important, or he would use his full
name.”

Fen's face dropped,
as if he had literally been melted.

As he did so he
looked particularly odd, quite ugly, but even stranger than that.

Only Janice saw
this. She gulped back another reaction. When all of a sudden as if it
had never happened, Fen's face was back to being a smiling, almost
normal looking man again.

This actually
worried Janice more than what she thought she had just seen, which
was becoming confusing to her the more she thought about it.

Caolan, was
speaking again.

“There is, or
there are, a few things you should know, dear children” Caolan said
this as if she were addressing infants at school.

Janice, Sarah and
Roger, did perk up a bit and paid full attention. Somehow they
couldn’t help themselves.

“Since you have
seen my face, you will now find yourselves being calmer, less
confused and above all unafraid of what is happening around you.
Perhaps, just a short time ago, you felt you were lost in this
beautiful land. Your maps didn’t tell you what they should and the
distance from us to you seemed never to become shorter.” Caolan
looked at each of them in turn. Still smiling. She lingered a short
time with each, as she looked one by one into their eyes.

As she did so,
Janice, then Sarah and finally Roger thought Caolan had continued
speaking. Except this beautiful woman with the hypnotic voice and
wonderful green eyes, had spoken personally to her, or him, alone.

“You are welcome
to join me for the night. Our small village is not three miles from
where we stand. We have some transport which will lighten your
burden, please remove your packs and follow me.” As Caolan finished
she began to turn then over her shoulder she called to Fen, “be
sure their packs are brought too, safely now Fen.”

Fen, with his
grinning smiling face merely nodded and easily picked up all three of
the packs from the ground and followed the others.

* * *

Having arrived at
the village it was clear, or appeared to be clear, to the three of
them that it had been a smooth pleasant journey. One which had them
passing through tall vegetation that had a sweet aroma, even though
it was dark, the views were still in their minds eye.

Equally, it became
clear that all three of them had similar memories, which didn’t
really bother them at all.

Janice kept feeling
an odd knowing. But like the feeling of trying to remember where you
left the car keys, finding the actual sweet spot of recollection,
evaded her. She saw Caolan staring at her, she looked back, more
confidently than she truly felt and smiled sweetly.

Caolan just nodded
once, then went back to her conversation with two other people who
had appeared just as they entered the village.

Janice looked around
herself and found Sarah doing much the same thing. Sarah caught her
eye and they were drawing closer to one another when, each of them
stopped in their tracks. “You should stay apart for a short
time” Both Janice and Sarah heard the voice but neither saw who
spoke. It must have been Caolan. Who was now looking in their
direction.

As one, the girls
nodded their understanding and stayed exactly where they were.

Roger, was nowhere
in sight now. Even though the girls both felt a strangeness they were
partially aware of what had been, a few hours before. Although more
than that was becoming a little hard to fathom.

Sarah and Janice
were some twenty feet apart when the annoying man appeared between
them, he gestured to each of them , first to Janice then Sarah to
follow him. He called out to them that a small dinner would be laid
out in the big-house in the middle of the village. “It'll do yer
good after yore journey,” he said.

Sarah said, “why
after just three miles, why should I be so very hungry?” she looked
toward Janice for confirmation.

“I agree, why is
the journey the cause of such need?” asked Janice.

Fen was paying
little attention he just scampered ahead, as if it was his most
important task of the day.

“If you ladies
would like to wash and change, your rooms are at the top of the
stairs, a maid will be there to assist you. Anything you need, simply
ask the maid and she will provide it for you.” Fen had opened the
door and swung his arm to direct the girls inside.

Sarah had noticed
the very large house as they approached. The top part, the parts she
could see in the poor light, was covered with moss and ivy. The
windows were very small but there was a warm light melting through
each of them.

The flint stone of
the walls seemed very old and the door, when they passed inside was
thick oak, with a small peek hole, it had enough space to just pass a
hand through. On the massive door nob at the lower centre of the
door, were the strangest faces Sarah had seen in her whole life...

As the two of them
passed inside, the hallway and the surrounding doors were all closed.
The stairway which was several feet from the front door was very wide
and after only a few steps formed a small landing, at the rear of
which was a tall coloured glass window.

It was full dark
outside so the reflections were all from the huge candelabra which
hung over head of the hall way. The landing at the stairs then split
into two separate flights of stairs, one on either side, turning back
upon itself at the left and right of the house.

Janice was the
first to speak, “wow, Sarah, have you ever seen anything so
beautiful?”

“Only in films,
and then; only the very old ones, which were in black and white.”
Sarah was also standing with her eyes glittering in the yellowy light
of the huge candelabra. “I wonder why no wax falls down on the
floor” Sarah thought. Then dismissed it as being a rather silly
thought, realizing they would hardly put so many candles into such a
thing, only to drip hot wax on anyone who walked through the
hallway...

The girls held
hands, as they stared all about at the surroundings, especially the
ceiling which was wonderfully ornate and very colourful. The rose,
where the candelabra was fixed to the ceiling, had large mouldings,
these represented serpents, three of them, eating each their own
tails.

Very creative in a
disturbing sort of way.

Neither of them
said much as they took this all in. When a maid dressed in very
austere black appeared from somewhere concealed beyond the staircase.
Sarah could not see where she had come from, but as the maid
approached both Janice and Sarah let go of their hands and
straightened up.

“Good evening
Mistress Janice. Good evening Mistress Sarah.” The maid spoke as if
she had all the time in the world. “Never using just one word,
when four would be better.” Sarah's mind was racing again..

Why these thoughts
kept running through her mind, she couldn’t imagine, unless she was
a lot more nervous than she liked to think.

“If you ladies
would follow me, I will take you both to your rooms.” The maid did
not smile, she did not even wait to see if the girls were following,
she turned and began toward the stairway.

Without pause the
maid climbed the steps as easily as if she did nothing else all day
long. For Sarah and Janice who were even now feeling a little stiff
from this mornings walk. Was it this morning? The day seemed far
away to them now.

Janice could tell
that she was feeling much the same as Sarah at this moment, she
couldn’t say exactly how she knew this but the feeling kept coming
and going with varying intensity.

Janice glanced at
Sarah as they climbed the first part of the stairs. When an
outrageous thought must have struck them both. “I know, I'll race
you to the top landing,” Sarah, could hear her self say this and
felt as if she was a little girl again.

Janice was laughing
too, “I go left, you go right, see who reaches the top first.

R -e-ady. Steady,
GO,” with that the two of them scampered up opposite stairways,
thumping and slipping as they half ran to the top landing. Squealing
like children all the way.

This would have
been odd, even if they had been able to control their out-burst. More
odd was that the maid, who was still plodding up the right hand
stairway, didn’t bat an eye-lid.

Not breathing any
differently than when she began the climb up the stairs, the maid
simply asked them to follow her. Again not waiting to see if they
would. It was taken for granted.

“This is your
room Mistress Sarah,” the maid knocked three times on the dull blue
door, which was to the right of the new corridor. It opened
immediately and Sarah was ushered inside.

“Mistress Janice,
you will be next door,” the maid actually said this to Janice,
which was the first time she had addressed her personally. At least
she had looked at Janice, which was almost the same thing.

Sarah had entered
her room, once again struck by the old-world charm. So many candles
were burning, the room appeared quite bright. It was wonderfully warm
too, the fire was small, but Sarah guessed that with so many candles
burning they must warm the place too.

It was then Sarah
realized two maids were standing there, expectantly, waiting for her
to fully enter the room.

“Hello,” Sarah
gave the usual youngster short arm wave, as she said it.

The two maids
replied with “Good evening Mistress Sarah” in complete unison.

“Wow,” Sarah
said, “did you practice that for long?”

This time only one
of the maids answered saying “sorry Mistress Sarah, we do not
understand, what do you mean?” Both of the maids, cast their eyes
down to the floor, as if they were ashamed.

“Oh please, I was
just trying to be funny, I meant that you spoke at the same time,
almost as if you only had one voice.” Sarah smiled sheepishly at
the two maids, feeling as silly as when she had ran up the stairs.

“What is the
matter with me? She thought to herself. “Am I really losing
it? I'm not behaving totally like myself?”

The maid who spoke
before, broke theconversation in Sarah's head, asking if she
was ready for her bath?

“A bath? Oh yes!
I am super ready for a bath, show me where.

And, what are your
names?”

The maids looked at
one another, then as before, exactly together, said, “Ginny and
Jenny, Mistress Sarah.” The two of them almost tugging Sarah into a
side room, which Sarah had not yet seen. Sarah was still fighting
herself Not to say “You’re kidding, right?” but
by then; “Your bath Mistress,” the maid who spoke dipped her hand
into the shiny copper bath, “it is just right for bathing now,
Mistress Sarah.”

“Why thank you,
so much. This really is very nice.” Sarah began stripping out of
her clothes. As she did so, the other maid, the one who Sarah still
didn’t know was Ginny or Jenny began collecting each article as
Sarah discarded it.

Naked, Sarah felt
free, not just of her clothes, but something else seemed strangely
different. She stepped into the bath, which was indeed wonderfully
“just right.”

“Ooh; that - is –
nice,” Sarah crooned... “Ooooooh yes.”

As she lay down in
the balmy water, she felt her whole body melt into something? What?
Sarah couldn’t decide if this was THE best she had ever
felt, or not.

If it was not, then
it came pretty damn close...

She closed her eyes
and felt like humming, but didn’t quite have the energy.

“I'll hum
later“… was the last thought she had.

* * * *

Janice just knew,
somehow she felt it, that Sarah and she were in safe hands.

“After all,
who would make such a fuss of two stray girls, only to do them harm?
Well, all right, there were those who might.

Those monsters
were men, usually; not beautiful women with impeccable manners.

A Bath and super
dresses, my god, I am sure we are safe.”
Janice finished her mental debate and left her room.

Without any
planning, on their part, the two of them had arrived at the top
landing; exactly at the same moment.

Bathed, full make up
and dressed to the nines.

“You look just
incredible, wonderful, beautiful.” Said Sarah.

“My goodness
Sarah, you too, shall we?”

The girls, all
silliness forgotten now, linked arms and descended the staircase
together.

Bells of the ball;
and then some.

They both looked
absolutely stunning.

They had not seen
from the top landing, the two rows of finely dressed men at the foot
of the final stair case. Six of them in all. Their dress however, was
very oldie world, as Sarah would describe it. Actually, not just
quite old but ancient.

Incredibly smart;
unusually handsome, the men looked as if they were all waiting to be
interviewed for a top models magazine.

Janice gave Sarah a
sideways glance, which said volumes.

“Behave,” Sarah
whispered. “None of that, not now and not later, OK?”

Janice just gave a
sort of snort as if to say, “ah-yes like you would pass up the
chance with any one of them.” The snort would have to suffice.

Two of the of the
men stepped forward, one from Sarah's side and one from Janice's. In
the most courtly manner, each took the hand of their lady and
positioned themselves, Janice and her escort leading, Sarah and hers
behind.

The remaining men,
had already taken positions at the door, the other two were some few
paces ahead of Janice and her escort. As they reached the doors, the
two men sprang forward, opening the twin doors in perfect unison.

The leading men had
almost reached the Table; the most lavish and ornately dressed table
either of the girls had ever seen. (Even in the films that Sarah
had made mention of earlier.)

Before them the
carpets had been laid in such a way as to form an inverted Y
which gave the two couples a perfect runway to each side of the
extremely long table.

About a third of
the way to the far end were places set, which obviously were for
Janice and Sarah. At the far end in a throne like seat, looking even
more beautiful, if that were possible, sat the lady Caolan.

“My children,
welcome.” Caolan made no effort to stand, but she gave a kind of
elaborate gesture, which was; and understood by the two girls, as
being the same thing.

“Err, Good
evening, Caolan,” Janice spoke as if from the very top of her vocal
range. Now she felt even more embarrassed.

This obviously
warned Sarah that nervousness can make you sound odd, so she
delicately cleared her throat and ventured her own greeting.

“Good evening
Caolan, how beautiful this all is; thank you so much for the loan of
the dresses, they are truly wonderful.” Sarah had no sooner
finished her words, when she felt a chair being gently nestled into
the backs of her legs.

“Please sit, both
of you, make yourselves comfortable.” Caolan had seen that the
girls were a little ill at ease and attempted to soften things a
little.

“Are you hungry
now?” Caolan went on, “something to drink? We have the most
wonderful cellar here.”

Caolan nodded at
the two men who had recently planted Janice and Sarah into their
chairs. Without a single word the men left the room.

The two at the
door, almost like magic, closed the door behind all four of them and
they were gone, just like that, not a sound of the door closing.

The room now was
quite silent.

The three ladies
sat, smiling slightly, embalmed by the silence.

Surprisingly, it
was Sarah who broke the thickening ice, “I can not help but wonder,
Caolan, how can you be such a good hostess to total strangers?”

Sarah gave a small
shrug to illustrate her feelings, then went on to ask, “Well, I
mean, the bath and some food, would have been great, but honestly,
this is, like, huge...”

Sarah stopped
talking. She could see that Janice fully agreed with her and even
though Janice still had that Odd feeling and her perceptions were
running amok; she did manage a, “yes I agree, Caolan, this is
really too much, I mean, in a good way of course.”

Now both the girls
sat and stared at Caolan.

By way of a
response, Caolan reached forward and took the tiny bell which was
placed before her dinner setting. The ringing was, tiny, like the
sound Sarah recalled that frozen peas made, when they fall into the
best pan she has.

Instantly the doors
opened and again two men appeared, one of them holding a large silver
tray, in the way only waiters seem to master.

Upon the tray were
two carafes and a bottle of wine. The man who had only a white cloth
draped over one arm, took the bottle and showed it to Caolan.

He did not wait for
any instruction, he opened it, wrapped the cloth somehow around the
neck of the bottle and placed it upon the side table.

By now the glasses
already in place on the table were filled and Caolan, sat with her
glass in hand, in the position of “a toast”.

Janice and Sarah,
picked up their glasses and followed suit.

“After so long,
so very long, I welcome you my dears. Caolan, raised her glass to her
lips, took a sip, then another; she put down her glass carefully and
looked at each of the girls who had turned quite pale. Caolan smiled,
very slightly, “Ah, yes, you will be surprised, forgive me dear
children, I thought we should begin straight away, the night is
advancing and we would not want to miss a single moment, would we?”

Janice and Sarah
were truly robbed of words.

“W- w-what d-do
you me-mean, are you going to hurt us after all?” Sarah managed to
splutter these words. Then began crying.

“My dears, no one
is going to hurt YOU” Caolan was genuinely amused, “if you
compose yourselves, I shall tell you everything you must know,”
Caolan picked up her glass and drank more deeply.

This time the girls
did the same. Actually Sarah managed to finish hers. Which again as
if by magic was refilled so quickly, by the almost invisible man who
had been lurking, she thought, just out of sight.

“So you feel less
distressed, which I am certain that you are,” smiling still, she
saw that the two, were sitting slightly less bolt-upright now, so she
continued, “People, most people, give thoughts to the future.
Especially about their own lives, wondering what will be, how things
will happen and so on; people also think about about what happens,
even further into the future, when they are no longer alive.”

Caolan, waited to
see what reaction this may have upon her two guests.

As Caolan continued
speaking, Janice saw that the food had already arrived, she and Sarah
had somehow eaten most of it, both of them drank quite a lot of the
wine and yet, even though in the back of her mind, an hour at least,
must have passed, Caolan still speaking, was just about to make
another important point.

“What was it
Caolan had said?” Janice had
that strange feeling again. She looked across the table at Sarah, who
up until now had been far more down to earth about everything than
she had. Sarah was looking at Caolan, she was listening, but
something else too.

Sarah was not just
listening, she was talking with Caolan, about, what?

Janice tried to
catch up on the conversation. She was still staring at Sarah, with a
stupid expression on her face.

Suddenly Sarah, who
had been speaking, became silent. Looking back at Janice, Sarah said,
“ah dear sister, you have come back to us, I was just saying to
Caolan that you are the thoughtful one of us,” Sarah gave a small
giggle and went on; “How do you manage dear Haefina, to keep
everything so close to your chest?” Sarah stopped, looking quite
startled at Janice. “What?”

“You called me by
another name, Haefina, not Janice, how? Why? What is
HAPENNING... Janice fell to the floor, sobbing and crying.

Only her noises; as
neither of the other two women could see her under the table.

Sarah, sprang to
her feet and raced around the table.

She took Janice in
her arms, as they both sat on the floor, rocking her like a baby.

“There, there”
Sarah kept rocking Janice and spoke very slowly, her words seemed
more familiar to Janice, than ever before, the things Sarah was
saying also began to become clearer in Janice's mind.

“You see dear
sister, for Caolan has reminded me of it, we have been sisters for a
very, no extremely, long time; our names are not, I should say were
not, Janice and Sarah.” Sarah paused and turned Janice toward her,
so she could look into her eyes.

“You
are Haefina, my sister. I am Maewen;” we lived here in this house,
hundreds of years ago. This village was mostly able to survive
because of our parents wealth. Do you feel it Haefina? Can you let
yourself free of the 21st
century and remember?” Sarah had tears in her eyes now too. Partly
from the memories and partly because her dear sister, could not
remember as she could.

“Get me up,
please, help me to my chair. Maewen, yes, it is coming into my mind;
I have been feeling strange ever since we met Caolan.” Haefina now
sitting back at the table, drank some more wine. Taking several
gulps, she continued, in a monotone voice, which even surprised
Maewen.

“I can remember
my room, the pictures and the staircase, we grew up here, did we
not?” Haefina, gave a smile, one of happiness lost. Then she said,
“I remember now the races we had up those stairs, my word, we could
not have been more than eight, or nine years old.” The more she
spoke the more she remembered.

“Then we were
taught how to do all those boring things, remember? English, reading,
writing, deportment. Oh, how we hated our tutor. But, what then? We
could not have been much more than sixteen, maybe seventeen, my mind
is screaming to remember, but I can not get passed that, that
night... “ Haefina suddenly looked shocked and went as white as the
table cloth.

“NO. Noooo, Oh My
God, it can not Beee.”

Caolan, who had
been sitting as still as death, made a motion with her hand, both
Haefina and Maewen turned toward her at once, straightened and sat,
waiting.

“My dears, you
now both remember, yes; it is horrible to remember such things. It is
why I am here to help you, guide you, for tonight, tonight is the
five hundredth year anniversary, of that night. Rare are the
times that such events as those coincide with the opening of the
vale. The opening of the place where dead and living can for a very
brief moment, mingle.” Caolan was clearly speaking to the girls,
but her mouth was no longer moving. She was, once again, speaking
directly into their minds.

Neither of the
girls gave any sign that this was so, they sat still, very still and
listened.

Caolan's voice was
like a smooth silk glove, soothing their troubled minds.

She continued,
“from the beginning, the night of your death, your souls have been
waiting, lingering in the places where you could hold on and be
transported by each new life, as it became necessary passing into a
new birth; as soon as a baby was born and lived, your soul would move
into it and thrive.

You have done it
all this one night; for tonight, souls and the living mix together.

Nothing could
prevent this night, you being here on the moors, on the very night
the vale opens was our plan, our doing. This will not happen again
for another five hundred years. Now, is the time for your revenge,
dear Haefina, dear Maewen.” Caolan, stopped speaking and again she
rang the small bell.

No wine on a tray,
this time.

All four of the now
not so well dressed men entered, dragging a fifth person into the
room.

Haefina and Maewen,
no longer remembered this persons new name, they could only see him
as he has always looked, always been in his rotten soul.

The man tried to
speak.

Like a striking
cobra, a hand struck him hard across the face.

“You will remain
silent,” Caolan's command was finite. Nothing further was said. She
gestured to her men, who diligently assisted the two girls, Haefina
and Maewen up from the table; escorting them to a set of chairs at
the rear of the room, close to the fireplace, where long metal pokers
were sticking into the very lively, very hot burning fire.

“This,”
Caolan went on looking toward to man, “This thing, this person, as
was, came to me many times, begging to be allowed across.
I should explain my dears; you see before you, not a ferry-man,
as your silly human fables tell. I am the being, an old, old soul,
the one that allows, or not, the dead, or their souls, to cross to
the other side. The other sideof
existence.

The
places where I, and my faithful servants linger, is not the other
side of everything, only of living, which is DEATH.
And that, for only a very short time. Unless, you see my dears;
unless, an act of such brutality, such horror has taken place. I am
she who decides. NO ! I made that decision; NOT this one, not this
soul ever.. not EVER; my dears.. This thing, this person, this soul,
is something he liked to call a person called Roger. Now we all see
him as he really is.”

Caolan just nodded,
nothing more than that; and the four men, began.

Haefina, looked at
her sister; Maewen was actually grinning.

“At last, at long
long last,” Maewen gave a sigh, almost of ecstasy as she watched
what the four men were doing with ? With ? With... FAECRA, I
remember now, you – you, BASTARD...” Maewen shuddered as
the memory registered.

“Faecra, the
Raven... How you were so proud of that name. You raping, torturing
murdering swine.” Maewen stepped forward until she was close
enough, then spat straight into his eye.

Haefina
had also recovered herself. Her feelings were now racing, any last
lingering links to the 21st
century were now gone; just as her sister had, Haefina, stepped
forward and kicked this Faecra creature, hard, right between the
legs. His scream was brief but the obvious pain it caused was
exceedingly rewarding, Haefina smiled her small victory.

This interruption
was brief.

Caolan, knowing she
had explained just enough for the sisters to understand, now went on
to provide a choice for young women to make.

“My dear
children, just as you both have done, so many times yourselves; this
Faecra, this raven, as he liked to title himself, has been inhabiting
peoples bodies for so long he almost forgot the soul, he really was.
This is the choice you can make. Faecra can feel; everything a body
should feel. We can also cause him such agony, that even his soul
will know of it.

However, his soul,
his one and only soul, on this night, this unique night, in hundreds
of years of nights, can be killed too.” Snapping her glare toward
Faecra, Caolan spoke directly to him for the first time.

“Faecra,
raven, man, dead-man, rotten-soul; you are doomed to be the plaything
of these sisters tonight; those who you wronged beyond need. You
wronged them, hurt them, for your own gratification; everything you
did will come back to you tonight, ten-fold.
Only then, Faecra; when in the darkest corner of your mind you
believe it to be over: I, yes I Caolan, lady of the “Crossing”
will put you Not
Across, to that place of
infinity, I shall instead send you where few have gone. Even I have
been loath to send souls to That
place. Torment is a word too insignificant to describe simply being
there; skull splitting agony, will be your daily bread; reprieve,
hope and any future will all look exactly the same to you. Not many
have been able to imagine such a place even exists. Living people
call what they believe to be such a bad place, Hell. Ha-ha ..
Confine yourself to this thought Faecra. Hell, would be the mattress
upon which you would make sweet love. This place, is one thousand
times more retched than your small mind can imagine. Finally, know
this, Faecra; it will be your soul
I am sending there; no flesh to harm, no hair to burn, not bones to
break; just your soul, which will feel, every single thing; suffer
without forgiving, no dying to shut it off, no going insane to escape
into somewhere else. YOU
will feel everything, every single moment. Moments, in a place where
time does not exist, is a very, very long time indeed. BEGIN.”

Caolan had
concluded.

Her next command to
the men was adhered to immediately.

This was the
longest Haefina and Maewen had heard Caolan speak, even inside their
heads. She said all this out loud, so they all could hear.

Maewen who, just
like the body she uses in the 21 century, was far more outward than
her sister. Even so; Maewen was actually beginning to feel prickly
beads of perspiration. The visions that ran through her mind,
imagining an eternity of agony, gave her a moments pause. She was
pleased that she got over it quickly.

This bastard man,
this rotten soul; Faecra had done more than enough to deserve the end
he is about to receive.

Caolan, asked the
girls, if they needed to be shown, or reminded of his crimes; as
difficult as it may be, to be reminded, in such detail.

Maewen could
remember quite well, Haefina was trying to block it out.

She could not blame
her sister for that.

“ Very well,”
Caolan said, as she took each girl by the hand, “now hold your
sisters hand so that we are a circle.” Each of them now held a hand
and the memories began to skip through the girls minds. Caolan had
told them it would be brief, so that only a fast ride past the
awful events would be glimpsed.

True
to her word, events unfolded and flashed through their mind, from one
to the other; Instantly, it is October 30th 1512
tomorrow is the festival, welcoming the harvest, saying goodbye to
the summer sunshine. The girls were happy because it was a fun day.
They waited for their father to come home, he always brought gifts.
Mother is telling the servants to prepare the house it is alive with
people buzzing all about. It becomes late, the darkness is creeping
over the moors. Father is late, he is never late.

Men are banging
at the heavy front door. Faecra is there, he does business with
father? The servants open the door, the men all burst into the house.
Mother screams, the men servants are struck to the ground, dead. Now
some of the women servants are screaming too. A body being dragged
into the house it is father, bleeding and his clothes torn almost
gone. Faecra, again Faecra shouting “he will would have it all, he
would not wait another week.” Haefina, is grabbed by the hair, two
men pulling at her arms, Maewen too, is now beside her sister, both
being punched and stripped. Mother screams again, this time the men
hold her against the floor and they are...; she screams louder, this
time one man took his knife, no that can not beee…..; Mother did
not scream again. Haefina screams she is now completely naked, Maewen
is tied to her sister by one wrist. Two men, then two more, so it
wrong, the girls scream and then, Faecra. He is kicking Maewen, he
kicks her over and over again, in her body and head. He turns toward
the door, father was still on the floor, alive. Still alive. Men
dragged him over near Haefina. “You will, or you die now”
suddenly fathers head is gone, a man stands sword in hand, grinning
like a fool. Haefina screams, men picked her up off the floor,
holding her legs and arms. Faecra, is laughing, standing between
Haefina's legs held tight by his men, Faecra sings out loud, as he
raped her again. Haefina screams once, her head rolls to the floor.
Two men jumped on Maewen, jumping on her tiny flattened, very small
body. Maewen's head is flat, squashed. Faecra turns his head looking
up to the sky,howling, like an animal.

The Memories
flashing in their heads stopped. As quickly as they began.

One evening of
mayhem, torture, rape and murder. It was crystal clear to the girls
now. Loving family, sisters united in hatred, one man. Faecra.

The girls took a
poker each from the hot fire. “It is unlikely you will be able to
remember the agony you caused, Faecra, but let us help jog your
memory just a little” with that said, Haefina pushed the almost
white hot poker into the right eye of this foul creature; while her
sister was cooking his private parts, to let him understand the
meaning of pain.

By the time the
girls had finished, not much of the body could be recognised as
Faecra, Roger, or anyone, anything else, for that matter.

Caolan, Took the
girls by their hand, “it is almost time, I must say goodbye, very
soon, dear souls. I shall be taking this,” Caolan pointed at the
wreck of Faecra, “with me, and his soul of course, which will not
be coming back.”

“What of his body
now, I mean in our time, of our Janice and Sarah
bodies?” Maewen was quite concerned, “will he be gone, or will it
look as if we did something to him, even killed him, you know that
Roger?”

“Do not worry,”
Caolan was comforting, “it will be as if he never was, which is
true, is it not? He will cease to exist, then and now”

“But, is that not
also true of us?” asked Haefina

“ My dear, you
children still have your souls, whereas this Faecra, in one hour will
not. Do not trouble yourself with these details.” Caolan smiled and
began to fade. So too did the six men and Faecra. Faintly they heard
Caolan “live long and prosper, farewell my children.” Everything
shimmered, a strange mist took their sight and their awareness.. The
fire died down, became ash, both girls, dizzy, looked about
themselves, it all faded.

Janice slowly
opened her eyes, she felt the brisk air of the morning, they were in
their sleeping bags, at the place where Sarah had asked “are we
lost, or what?”